Lightship

[MartinR]

(OT)  I know just what you mean Pete.  My first year at Durham I was in rooms at the top of the Castle Great Hall and the oak roof beams there had been under cover in a warm dry environment for about 8 centuries.  Hard as granite.  There was no way nails (or drawing pins) would penetrate them, BlueTak was the only option.

[pete.mason]

i tried to install beer on her, ribs were too hard to drill through  (8mm hole) to run the pipes and the masonary nails on the cable clips just buckled

[Archi93]

There was a very early wooden one at Borstal Marina in the 70's, no idea if it is still there.

Yes it was LV16 Inner Dowsing. Still seems to be there. Now a hotel by look of web site
https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/131/light-vessel-16-inner-dowsing
You are right it was a wooden one. We had a staff Christmas meal on it years ago. The deck we were on was a wooden deck slightly curving from one end to the other with a dip in the middle.

[pete.mason]

There was a very early wooden one at Borstal Marina in the 70's, no idea if it is still there.

[Archi93]

Yes, ex Trinity House Light Vessel 21. She was there for a while, but after a spat with Medway Council, she was moved to Gravesend.

LV 21 was indeed moored at Gillingham Pier for a while as a floating arts and culture centre. We went to a gig on board her on 21st January 2012, when these photos were taken
We had a real treat as we left the gig. They switched on the powerful lights as it would have been on the light vessel when she was in active service.
LV 21 was used as a Light Vessel on East Goodwin sands, Varne Station off of Dover and Channel station. One photo was taken below deck, preparing for the gig, organised by local events group TEA. Two show the external lights. The other shows Darren Hayman playing a ships piano, which has only 6 octaves instead of 7 or 8, so that it can be taken onto a ship via the small hatches on deck.

[castle261]

A lot of information has added since my mistake about the light ship.
Members use their eyes to rectify, then we have an excelent thread.

[Stewie]

The Ross revenge spent a few years in Tilbury, but is now moored in the River Blackwater off of Maldon. She had a number of other berths previous to this, namely on the end of Southend Pier, opposite the Russian submarine on the River Medway and at Queenborough.

[MartinR]

We have two vessels here: one moored at Sun Pier and another at Gillingham Pier.  The latter vessel was indeed LV21, I've been on board her the day before she moved on.  See https://lv21.co.uk/ for more info.  IIRC the former vessel had a very different profile, and a notably high mast.  I was under the impression that that was Radio Caroline's ship, the MV Ross Revenge.  See the last two paragraphs of section "3 Ross Revenge runs aground" in the Wikipedia article I cited earlier.
If you are interested in light vessels there are two or three at Hoo Marina, and of course there is the Inner Dowsing (LV16) at Medway Bridge Marina.

[stuartwaters]

Yes, ex Trinity House Light Vessel 21. She was there for a while, but after a spat with Medway Council, she was moved to Gravesend.

[johnham]

There was a Lightship moored at Gillingham Pier for a while that was not the Ross Revenge.

[castle261]

You are right -- MartinR -- interesting memories & comments to follow -- no doubt.

[MartinR]

It wasn't an old lightship, but a trawler, the MV Ross Revenge.  There's an article on her in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ross_Revenge

[castle261]

I remember an old lightship that was moored in the River Medway, near the Sun Pier.
It was painted red, I believe it was the ship that Radio Caroline broadcast from, at one time.
They say, it had a 200 foot mast, for the aerial.